United States Set to Be World’s Largest EMR Marketplace

Whatever its faults, It’s clear the Meaningful Use program did one thing right, that’s filled hospitals and doctors’ offices with EMRs. So successful was the program in doing so that the United States is soon to lead the world has an EMR marketplace.

A new study by Accenture predicts that the United States will remain the world’s largest EMR marketplace by the end of 2015, growing 7.1% per year until then.  In other words, United States’  EMR market will hit $9.3 billion by that point.

Worldwide, the EMR marketplace is expected to reach $22.3 billion by the end of 2015, with North America and South America making up $11.2 billion of that projection, the combined marketplaces of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa projected to account for $7.1 billion, and the Asia-Pacific region $4 billion.

Accenture lists several reasons why the US is leading the world in EMR market growth, but we already know what they are: pressure from regulators to interoperate, changes in reimbursement that emphasize EMR capabilities, the use of EMRs for population health management and of course, payouts for Meaningful Use success and penalties for failure.

It’s worth noting that at this point, however, it’s not just EMRs that will be necessary to meet current health system goals. As providers transition on  towards MU Stage 3, they’ll need to adopt population analytics in the mobility to help manage the transition.

The bottom line is that by the end of 2015, the EMR market should be pretty well tapped out throughout the Western world, and tools to use with EMRs, such as data analytics for population management, are the next frontier for rapid market growth.

About the author

Anne Zieger

Anne Zieger is a healthcare journalist who has written about the industry for 30 years. Her work has appeared in all of the leading healthcare industry publications, and she's served as editor in chief of several healthcare B2B sites.

   

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